Chaminade women's volleyball team ends road trip 1-3

The 8-day road trip for the Chaminade women's volleyball team came to an end Monday as the Silverswords dropped a four-set decision to Dominican, 25-16, 25-20, 20-25, 25-19 in a Pacific West Conference match at the Conlan Center.

Chaminade fell to 5-8 overall and 2-6 in the PacWest, finishing its first Mainland road trip of the season at 1-3. The Penguins improved to 3-14 and 2-7.

Kim Spring put down a match-high 16 kills while Reigna Johnson added 13, which tied her career-high set on Sunday at Holy Names. Johnson also hit .423 against the Penguins, who were led by Hannah Stocking's 13 kills. Brenda Walker had 23 digs for the Swords, while Daniella Montoya established a career-high with 39 assists and a season-best 13 digs.

CUH got off to a slow start from the get-go, allowing the Penguins to jump out to a 9-3 first set lead. Chaminade would battle back, but never got closer than three as Dominican pulled away for a convincing Set 1 win.

Chaminade again got off to a slow start in the second, falling behind by as many as seven early on at 14-7. A pair of Johnson kills and one from Spring brought the Swords to within three at 16-13, but kills by Jessica Jones and Samantha Rains would push the lead back to seven as the Penguins took a 2-0 advantage.

The Swords figured things out in the third set as they grabbed an early 8-6 lead. Three Spring kills, two by Johnson and one each from Kapiolani Rapoza and Ku‘ulei Lynch expanded the lead to 18-10 as the Swords pulled out the Set 3 win.

The Penguins wouldn't be denied on their home floor, jumping out to a 16-7 advantage in the fourth set. The Silverswords answered on a 12-4 run, as Rapoza put down three kills along with a pair from both Johnson and Kaya Chong as the Swords drew to 20-19. But the deficit proved to be too insurmountable as Dominican scored the final five points to close the set and match.

Dominican out-hit Chaminade, .213-.136, and won the blocking battle 11-4. The Swords had more kills than the Penguins, 55-46, but committed a season-worst 31 hitting errors.

The Swords return to the islands and will face Hawai‘i Pacific at St. Andrew's Priory this Saturday.